8 December 2008

CoPSO Welcomes Transitional Arrangement Announcement

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has today welcomed the Government’s decision to extend the transitional arrangements for Home Information Packs (HIPs).

The trade association, representing companies producing property search reports for HIPS, argues that it is in the interests of both consumers and searchers for the Government to ensure that councils allow full access to property data. This allows private search companies to deliver a high quality product as quickly as possible, helping to smooth the house buying process.

Commenting, Mervyn Pilley, CoPSO Chief Executive says:

“We warmly welcome today’s news that the transitional arrangements will be extended until the 6th April next year. This sensible move will allow local authorities the chance to get their house in order and ensure that private search companies can have full and fair access to data.

“But this is not a long term solution. The Government now needs to come down hard on those local authorities who are deliberately obstructing access in order to promote their own search products. In the end it is in both our and the consumer’s interest to move away from the use of insurance provisions, which remain as an option of last resort. The simplest solution for all involved is for the Government to ensure that local authorities provide unfettered access to all, allowing private search companies to help deliver a high quality product as soon as possible to the consumer.”

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Notes to Editors

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) is the major trade association for the property search industry. Members provide a broad range of property search reports including local, environmental, mining, chancel repair, drainage and water data and undertake over 2 million searches each year. The membership includes water companies, environmental search providers, organisations offering local searches and the NLIS channels.

On the 8th December, Margaret Beckett delivered a Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons that announced, “Existing regulations which allow for a dealy in providing a HIP and for transitional insurance cover expire at the end of December. I propose to extend them until 6th April 2009.”